1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vent, as defined herein, having portions provided with fastener receiving passageways within which the fasteners are provided prior to positioning of the vent adjacent to a structure and securement thereof to the structure by said fasteners. More specifically, the vent is provided with a plurality of said fastener receiving passageways with suitable fasteners, such as nails, extending into the same such that the installer need merely position the vent in the desired location and hammer the nails into the underlying substrate in order to secure the vent in the desired position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has long been known to provide vents in connection with residential buildings, commercial buildings and other structures in order to exhaust air therefrom into the surrounding atmosphere. Such vents may be power operated by a suitable motor operating a fan or may be subjected to motion by prevailing winds and pressure differentials. Also, some vents have moving parts and others are fixed. In essentially all of prior art vents there is an opening in a wall or roof of the structure with the vent so configured as to provide openings for passage of exhausting air therethrough while resisting entry of undesired rain, snow, sleet, hail, insects, birds and animals.
Typically, such vents are secured to the structure employing preformed holes in a base portion with nails or screws which pass through the openings in the vent portion and into the substrate to provide effective mechanical securement. Alternatively, the nails or screws may penetrate the product material without employing preformed holes. Appropriate flashing to resist leakage around the vent and into the structure are also provided.
It has been known to make such vents out of various materials which have adequate strength, weather resistance, sun resistance and any other properties desired for the particular installation. Various resinous plastic materials such as polypropylene copolymers, for example, may be employed in vents as may suitable metals, such as aluminum or galvanized steel.
In instances where the vent is to be nailed it has been a general practice to have the vent positioned in the desired location in contact with the structure and to have the roofer or other installer have a supply of nails which are individually sequentially positioned at the place where it is to be driven through the vent and into the substrate with hammering action resulting in driving the nail into its final position. This is done sequentially with the plurality of nails required to hold a particular vent.
An example of a type of vent which has been anchored in this manner is a roof ridge vent which is assembled from a plurality of elongated panels which overlie an opening at the apex of the roof and extend angularly downwardly on both sides thereof. The roof ridge vent typically has a longitudinal extent such that a plurality of individual panels are secured in side-by-side relationship and are interengaged. Such roof vents are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,810 and U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 09/772,611, (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,581), the disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
There remains, therefore, a very real and substantial need for a vent which is easier to install employing mechanical fasteners.
The present invention has met the above described needs by providing a vent which is attachable to, but not attached to a structure. The vent has a body with openings for passage of air therethrough and is so structured as to resist undesired entry of foreign matter into the structure through the opening which is operatively associated with the vent. The body has a plurality of tubular elongated fastener receiving passageways which have an entry end and an exit end and fasteners, which may be nails, extending into at least some of the passageways for retention therein prior to the vent being secured to the structure.
The passageway dimensions are preferably such that the nail retained therein will have an interference fit and resist undesired relative separation. The vent may be delivered to the job site with the fasteners, such as nails, in position for securement of the vent to the structure by hammering thereby eliminating the need to handle the nails individually by the installer prior to securement of the vent to the structure.
The fasteners preferably extend more than half way through the axial extent of the passageway and, most preferably, substantially entirely to the distal end of the passageway without extending therebeyond. The vent may, for example, be a ridge roof vent having a generally V-shape with the apex overlying a ridge opening in the roof and panel portions extending generally downwardly therefrom on both sides with depending spacers and deflectors serving to resist the entry of foreign matter into the building through the building opening. The passageways may be integrally formed as by molding and may depend downwardly so as to extend between the undersurface of the panel and the upper surface of the roof.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vent for a structure which has presecured fasteners which may be employed to secure the vent to the building without requiring individual handling of the nails at the job site.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a product wherein the nails may be presecured within specifically positioned passageways at the place of vent manufacture and delivered to the work site without loss of fasteners or undesired excess penetration of the fasteners through the passageway.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a product which does not interfere with the preexisting functioning of the ventilator once installed.
These and other objects of the invention will be more filly understood from the following description of the invention with reference to the illustrations appended hereto.